This invention relates generally to fishing devices, and more particularly to fishing hooks.
Numerous fishing hooks are commercially available which include barbs or other means for retaining the bait on the hook, and enabling the hook to be set in the mouth of a striking fish so that it is resistant to dislodgement. While such hooks are suitable for their intended purpose, they suffer from a major drawback. In particular, the barbs of such hooks are constructed so that if they accidentally pierce the skin of a person handling the hook, or that person's clothing, or some other material, e.g., a fishing net, tend to snag and be resistant to release. In the case where the barb of a conventional hook pierces the skin of a person, release of the barb may require surgery to cut the barb out. Moreover, such hooks are difficult to remove from the fish's mouth, thereby resulting in damage to the fish. This factor is a considerable drawback if the fish is undersize, so that it must be put back.
Various barbless fishing hooks are also commercially available. While such hooks overcome the problems of hook snagging, they do so at the expense of effectiveness of operation. In this regard barbless hooks have difficulty in securing the bait in place and in keeping the hook set within the fish's mouth.
In order to overcome the disadvantages of barbed hooks and barbless hooks, some fishing hooks have been specially constructed to include elements which lock the hook in place within the fish's mouth, yet which render the hook resistant to sticking or snagging on people, clothing, etc. However, such designs are relatively complex.
Examples of some prior art fishing hooks are found in the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,502,781 (Jamison); 2,317,900 (Freeman); 2,538,052 (Schwarzer); 2,570,468 (Matthes); 2,597,679 (Schwarzer); 2,679,708 (Matthes); 2,792,664 (Schwarzer); 2,823,485 (Traumuller); 2,841,914 (Butler); 4,570,373 (Brief); 4,723,372 (Moser); and 4,905,403 (Manno) .